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The Peck School Alumni Spotlight
Laurie Morrison '95: A WRITER'S JOURNEY, BEGUN AT PECK
By Taylor (Worthington) Williams '03, Alumni Relations Associate
It's no surprise that Laurie Morrison’s writing journey began at The Peck School in Morristown, NJ; after all, her mother, Elizabeth Donnell Morrison, was a Peck English teacher and author of Because They Cared, a centennial history of the school!
Morrison has many wonderful memories as a student at Peck. She remembers continuously feeling encouraged as a reader and a writer—especially as a reader who loved that her teachers were always willing to share books with her.
Back then, she never thought of herself as a creative student or that she would end up writing as a profession. However, she credits the excellent foundation in reading and writing she received from her years at Peck as key to her success today.
Morrison has a specific memory from her time in seventh-grade English class, which her mom taught. She vividly recalls assignments focused on writing her version of the end of a series of books as part of the creative writing course; looking back, these assignments were significant to what would become her profession.
While at Haverford College, Morrison majored in English and was a peer tutor in the college’s writing center. She was also part of a small group of students who participated in search committees to find English writing professors.
After graduation, Morrison didn’t waste any time in pursuing her dream of writing. While getting her PhD in rhetoric and composition at the University of Arizona, Morrison began teaching English and loved connecting with her students day after day.
As I got to know my students, I reconnected with my middle school self, who read Judy Blume’s Just as Long as We’re Together and Irene Berg’s Up a Road Slowly over and over and yearned both to experience the world through other people’s eyes and to know other people felt some of the same secret things I did.
Morrison writes contemporary realistic novels about complicated emotions and flawed, loving characters who mess up, bounce back, and grow in messy, beautiful ways.
She is passionate about crafting upper middle-grade books for 10 to 14-year-old readers like the students she used to teach.
She started writing her debut novel as a co-author of Every Shiny Thing, a constructed middle-grade novel, told half in prose and half in verse. Since then, she has written several more books, Up for Air, Saint Ivy, and Coming Up Short
Morrison is writing her next book, Keeping Pace, and has plans to return to campus next fall as part of the library’s presenting author program for students before the school's book fair!
The Peck School is a K-8, co-ed, independent school in Morristown, NJ. www.peckschool.org
We set the standard for excellence in K-8 education, where academic preparation and character development intersect powerfully in the learning experience. By embedding consideration of others, service, and belonging in all that we do, we are designing an integrated approach to education that develops curious and disciplined learners who positively shape the world.
